1. Technical Field
This application relates to the field of computer data storage, and more particularly to the field of facilitating providing remote computer data storage over a network.
2. Description of Related Art
Backup systems exist in which data is backed up from one or more clients to a centralized backup site using the Internet or another suitable network. These systems have the advantage of not requiring an administrator to manipulate tapes, disks, or other backup media and also eliminating the need for specialized media I/O devices (e.g., a tape device). One drawback to providing backup over a network is that the network data throughput speed may be relatively slow and/or the amount of data that needs to be backed up may be relatively large so that using a network is impractical.
One way this has been addressed is to use a full/incremental backup system where an initial full backup is first obtained followed by subsequent incremental backups that back up only data that has changed since a prior backup. In many cases, the amount of data that has changed since a prior backup is relatively small, even in instances where the total amount of data for a system is large. Slow networks can handle the throughput for the subsequent incremental backups. However, the initial full backup may still contain a large amount of data and could therefore still pose a problem for a user in terms of the amount of time needed for the initial full backup over the network.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a system that has the advantages of backing up data over a network without the corresponding disadvantage of performing the initial full backup over the network.